High School

Benjamin F., Man in the Mirror, grade nine. Lyrics: Michael Jackson, "Man in the Mirror" (1987).

The Essential Questions
How can artists communicate ideas with words and images?

Objectives
Students will reflect on a music lyric, poem, or quote that has helped them through adversity. Students will use upcycled materials to create a composition inspired by Pop artist Michael Albert.

Materials
substrate (paper, board, or canvas), magazines, printed photos, consumer packages such as food or toy boxes, scissors, glue, découpage medium

Procedures
1. Show students the work of American Pop artist Michael Albert (michaelalbert.com) and discuss his use of cereal boxes and consumer packaging to communicate messages.
2. Ask students to reflect on times in their lives when they have used music, poetry, or words to help them through a challenge. Ask them to choose a particularly powerful line that resonates with them and write it down.
3. Have students help collect magazines and consumer packages like cereal boxes, toy boxes, and snack containers.
4. After finding images in magazines or on the packages that describe the challenges they face or that they connect to emotionally, have them cut out images and letters to spell their lyric or quote.
5. Provide paper, board, or canvas for students to use as a substrate, which they can paint, if desired. Have them arrange their cut-out pieces to display their quote or lyric and glue them down.
6. Ask students to apply a topcoat of découpage medium to hold the pieces in place.

Assessment
Students write an artist statement describing their work, images, and chosen words.

Dannielle Arneson is an art teacher at Sheboygan North High School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.